CLEVELAND, Ohio - Look west from a corner suite inside Cleveland's new Schofield Hotel and you can't miss the iconic Soldiers and Sailors Monument nine blocks away.
It's a uniquely Cleveland moment: Standing inside the century-old, 14-story building designed by prominent architect Levi Scofield while admiring his better-known work, the memorial to the city's Civil War veterans on Public Square.
The Schofield Hotel -- which bears the name of the man who designed it (with the H, dropped by Scofield, added back in) -- promises plenty of Cleveland-centric experiences when it opens next month at the busy intersection of Euclid Avenue and East 9th Street.
Dozens of workers are in their final, frenzied weeks of construction, preparing the 1902 structure for a second debut after a dramatic five-year, $50-million renovation.
It will be the city's first Kimpton hotel, a popular brand of boutique properties known for their eclectic, casual style.
The Schofield building, also known as the Euclid Ninth Tower, in 2009: The building, with an original brick facade, had a new steel and enamel exterior added in 1969. The 1969 exterior was painstakingly removed in a recent renovation.
Among the hotel's only-in-Cleveland features:
* Local craft beer in the mini-bars.
* A complimentary guitar-loaner program from the front desk (acoustic only).
* Art that celebrates the city's history, including prints of vintage matchbooks made in Northeast Ohio, and carpeting that pays tribute to the city's garment industry.
"The whole premise is to live like a local," said Jeff Andrews, director of sales and marketing for the Schofield. "Even if you never leave the building, I want you to know like you're in Cleveland."
The project, delayed by both financing issues and efforts to secure historic preservation tax credits, has been in the works for years, shepherded by a group of local investors including Brian Intihar, vice president of CRM Real Estate Services.
"It's been a labor of love for a long time," he said. "Every person who has been involved in the project from the beginning is pleased, happy and proud."
He added, "Any time you get into historic work, you don't always know what you're going to find."
The trickiest and most dramatic part of the project: The removal of a steel and enamel facade, which was placed on top of the building's original brick exterior in 1969 in an effort to update and modernize its look.
"The building had been hidden for so many years," said Kathleen Crowther, president of the Cleveland Restoration Society. "The before and after is startling. There are a few miracle projects in Cleveland and this has got to be one of them."
Whole sections of the brick and terra cotta exterior were in such poor shape they had to be recreated, she said. The decorative cornices and columns are pristine now, restored to their Victorian-era elegance.
The interior of the former office building has been completely rebuilt, as well, though with the exception of the original marble and iron staircase, it lacks the historic details of the exterior.
On the first floor: a trademark Kimpton-cozy lobby, called the Living Room, where guests can gather for the brand's complimentary wine hour while paging through American Splendor comic books by the late Harvey Pekar.
Also on the ground floor: Parker's Downtown, a restaurant featuring modern American fare, set to open in April; 3,000-square feet of banquet space; and a retail store, with a to-be-determined tenant, according to Andrews.
The first seven floors of the building house 122 hotel rooms and six suites, in a dozen different configurations offering alternative room sizes, bed types and city views.
The 1,200-square-foot presidential suite, on the seventh floor, offers dramatic views on three sides: Playhouse Square to the east, Public Square to the west and Lake Erie to the north. (The hotel is sponsoring a contest to name the suite; check the hotel's Facebook page early next week.)
The style of the rooms: clean and contemporary, with light-wood furniture, high-thread count linens, granite-and-glass bathrooms and numerous playful elements, including desk lamps with movable letters to create personal messages.
The upper seven floors are home to 52 apartments, priced from $1,450 a month for a one-bedroom unit to $7,250 for three bedrooms. About 75 percent are rented, according to Marcie Gilmore, marketing consultant for CRM Companies. Among the amenities of Schofield living: in-room dining, valet-parking, grocery delivery and more. "It's like you're living in a hotel, but you're in an apartment."
And on the eighth floor: a fitness center shared by residents and overnight guests.
Both the hotel and apartments are expected to open in March, though an exact date hasn't been set, said Andrews. Hotel room rates will vary widely, starting at about $150 per night.
The Schofield is one of three high-profile hotel projects scheduled to open downtown in the next few months, ahead of the Republican National Convention in July (though all three were well under way before the city landed the RNC in the summer of 2014). Opening in April: The Drury Plaza Hotel, under construction in the former Cleveland Board of Education building on East 6th Street; and in May, the Hilton Cleveland Downtown, the 32-story hotel towering over the adjacent Cleveland Convention Center.
The Kimpton project has been closely watched in part because the brand has such a loyal following. Founded in 1981 in San Francisco, the chain takes credit for launching the boutique-hotel movement in the United States.
Bought by the InterContinental Hotels Group in late 2014, Kimpton, with 59 hotels in the United States, is on an expansion spree, with eight new properties scheduled to open this year.
Despite its new corporate ownership, Andrews said the Kimpton brand is committed to retaining its casual, quirky style, with yoga mats in every room, complimentary bike rentals for guests and extremely pet-friendly policies.
In Cleveland, that style includes embracing the local culture, said Andrews.
Schofield employees, he said, will be encouraged to recommend to guests their favorite Cleveland attractions and activities, both well-known and off the beaten path -- including, perhaps, Levi Scofield's Soldiers and Sailors Monument just down the street.